A FINE KASHAN WHITE WARE BOWL, PERSIA, 12TH/13TH CENTURY

of deep form with straight vertical sides and slightly everted lip, made in a two-part mould with a finely modelled frieze of equestrian figures hunting lions and a hare, all raised in bold relief and set against a pierced background of spiralling scrolls with palmette and split-palmette terminals interspersed with hawks and other sporting birds, a narrow epigraphic frieze around the lower part of the body with cursive inscriptions in Persian interrupted by further figures of birds, the transparent colourless glaze with cobalt blue splashes

This is a superbly worked and exceptionally refined example of medieval Persian pottery. The quality of the paste and glaze, the precision of the potting and the finely moulded decoration suggests a prestige commission for a high status individual, though, as with other high quality Persian ceramics of the period, no specific patron is recorded by name. The princely subject matter need not necessarily imply princely patronage; the aspiring merchant class, pre-eminent amongst the consumers of such wares, would no doubt have recognised and responded to the prestigious historical and literary overtones of the courtly repertory.

The subject matter of the hunt most probably draws inspiration from a contemporary illustrated Shahnameh or some other related historical manuscript. Although no late Seljuk period Shahnamehs survive to confirm this, the likely existence of such manuscripts is asserted by the Shahnameh scenes on the Freer Gallery minai beaker and dish, which are near if not exact contemporaries to our bowl (see Atil 1973, nos.44 and 50). Both of the minai wares in the Freer Gallery have been compared to the approximately contemporary manuscript Varqa va Gulshah in the Library of the Topkapi Saray (see Riyadh 1996, cat. no.58), one of the few survivors of a rich illustrative tradition that is almost completely lost to scholarship, but whose existence and influence is revealed through survivors in other media. Contemporary fragments of moulded and carved stuccowork depicting mounted warriors in combat with lions also offer some close iconographical parallels, see Riyadh 1996, no.198 and Roxburgh 2005, no.58.

It is important to consider the relationship with metalwork - so often a source of inspiration to the Persian potter - here revealed in the high relief aspect of the decoration, recalling both the repoussé work of twelfth-century brass wares from Khurasan (see Paris 2001, no.58, pp.84-5), but also, undeniably, the applied relief designs of imperial Sasanian silver plate. The strong connections with the style and iconography of the pre-Islamic period may be simply the result of the channelling of that tradition into the mainstream of Persian design, though the possibility of a partial link with a piece of pre-Islamic silver or other precious metal ware cannot be ruled out. There were certainly antique silver wares still in circulation in the Islamic period.

The delicacy of the potting and the translucency created by the fine perforations filled with transparent glaze betray another important influence, namely Chinese Song monochrome wares, in particular the finely potted qingbai wares, of which large quantities were being traded in Middle Eastern markets by the twelfth century. The arrival of these exotic wares prompted the Persian potters to aspire to a more refined, thin-bodied type of ceramic, of which this is a superlative example. Even when compared with the most refined Seljuq wares, the quality of the moulded decoration and the fineness of the potting on this bowl are quite exceptional. A similar example sold in these rooms 12 October 2005, lot 76.